I’m going to see a show in Glasgow called Defending The Caveman on Sunday night (assuming the tickets arrive in time). I’d never heard of it until a few days ago, when the promoter sent me a very straightforward email: you’ve got a blog, do you fancy coming along for free? That was it: no “…on the condition you write about it”, just “we’re inviting bloggers. Fancy it?”

Of course, there’s no need to ask a blogger to write about something: that’s what bloggers do. But I think it’s a very smart idea, because by giving away a pair of spare tickets the promoter’s getting some valuable word of mouth coverage. My wife’s friends and colleagues are now aware of the show, and if she likes it she’ll tell them all about it. If I like it, I’ll blog about it. And so on. The result: the promoter gets rid of a couple of tickets that were going spare anyway, and if the process is repeated with enough bloggers then you’ve got a nice wee marketing campaign that didn’t cost a penny.

If the Ford Motor Company is reading this, the same tactics would work with the latest Aston Martin.